Foreign journalists released after 11 days as captives

SARAVENA, Colombia -- Leftist guerrillas freed an American photographer and a British reporter on Saturday after kidnapping them 11 days earlier in one of the most violent regions of Colombia.

Scott Dalton, of Conroe, Texas, and Ruth Morris, a British citizen raised in southern California, were the first foreign journalists to be kidnapped in Colombia's four-decade-long war. Both live in Bogota and had been in Arauca on assignment for the Los Angeles Times.

The National Liberation Army, known as the ELN, released the journalists to an International Red Cross delegate in eastern Colombia, not far from where they were abducted, Red Cross spokesman Carlos Rios said.

The pair were driven in a van to a shrapnel- and bullet-scarred airport in Saravena -- a town in Arauca state near the Venezuelan border. They smiled and waved to reporters, then boarded a Red Cross plane bound for Bogota, the capital.

Their colleagues and friends in the Colombian capital, and those who had traveled to Arauca to cover the kidnapping, were ecstatic after Morris, 35, and Dalton, 34, were freed.

"I'm looking forward to seeing them and giving them a big hug," said Dan Molinski, bureau chief in Bogota for Dow Jones NewsWires.

The two veteran journalists were stopped at an ELN roadblock south of Saravena on Jan. 21, then led away with hoods over their heads. Their taxi driver, who was released a day later, said the rebels had planned to grant the journalists an interview with a senior commander, or send them back with a communique.

But the ELN said two days later over a clandestine rebel radio station that the pair had been "detained" by the insurgents, who complained about the U.S. military presence in Arauca. They later demanded the Colombian military halt offensive operations in the state, which is twice the size of New Jersey, but then appeared to back off the demand.

The 5,000-strong ELN had said the journalists would be released to a humanitarian commission on Friday. But citing security concerns, the commission -- composed of Catholic church officials, the government human rights ombudsman and others -- canceled its mission at the last minute.

Lorenzo Karafi, the Red Cross delegate based in Arauca, had been in contact with the ELN since last week trying to facilitate the release. Late Friday, the rebels called him and said they'd free the captives the following day.

The ELN and a larger rebel group -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- are fighting U.S.-backed government troops and an outlawed paramilitary group for control of oil-rich Arauca.

About 70 U.S. Army special forces troops arrived in Arauca this month to train Colombian Army soldiers in counterinsurgency tactics so they can protect a key oil pipeline that has been frequently blown up by the guerrillas.

President Alvaro Uribe took a tough line against the rebels on Friday, insisting that the hostages be freed without a spectacle. Uribe also warned that government troops would not halt operations in Arauca province in the meantime.

Uribe has vowed to regain control of Arauca as a showcase of his attempts to put this war-riven South American country in order. The state is the site of frequent kidnappings, assassinations, and car bomb explosions.

Dalton worked as a photographer for The Associated Press for about nine years in Panama, Guatemala, and Colombia. He left the AP last year to pursue video projects while freelancing for newspapers.

Morris has written for as a freelancer for The Los Angeles Times, Time magazine, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and other publications.